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 But Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, a former Ethiopian health and
foreign minister elected as the first African WHO director-general
on Tuesday, also said the United Nations agency would be seeking new
donors.
U.S. President Donald Trump proposed cuts on Tuesday of about 32
percent from U.S. diplomacy and aid budgets, or nearly $19 billion.
His fellow Republicans in Congress assailed his plan, making it
unlikely the cutbacks will take effect.
Tedros, asked about the proposed cuts to U.S. and multilateral aid
agencies, told a news conference that donors should not suddenly
pull out of existing programmes.
"I am a strong believer that there should be an exit strategy, that
means a gradual exit that avoids any shocks," he said. "When there
are finance cuts like this, the most affected are the poor."
But he added: "I don't take it as a closed issue, and I will
continue to engage and use that bipartisan position that I have
already experienced while working as minister of health in my own
country, but also when I was chairing the Global Fund (to Fight
AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria)."
The United States currently provides nearly $835 million to WHO's
budget of $5.8 billion for 2016-2017, WHO figures show, combining
both U.S. assessed and voluntary contributions.
Tedros said he preferred to see global agencies including WHO, the
World Bank, GAVI vaccine alliance and Global Fund as part of one
"big envelope".
"We need to expand the donor base ... If we have as many countries
as possible who can contribute, it could be any amount, I think that
will help," he said.
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"By expanding the donor base, we help the health financing to have a
kind of shock absorber."
U.S. Secretary for Health and Human Services Tom Price, in a speech
to the WHO's annual ministerial assembly on Monday, did not refer to
U.S. contributions while voicing support for WHO.
"But it also means taking a clear-eyed view of what needs to change
for it to fulfil that most important mission - ensuring a rapid and
focused response to potential global health crises," Price said.
"Reform with this focus must be this organisation's number one
priority," he said. "The United States wants and we all need a
strong WHO."
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Tom Heneghan)
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